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The reference library

The Field Guides

Everything we know about planning, written plainly.

Guides to planning projects and making Gantt charts, with tool tutorials and examples you can adapt. Written by the studio behind ganttchart.ai.

In the library
19 field guides
Departments
4
Reading level
Plain English
Price
Free to read
01 Department

The fundamentals

Start here — the whole idea, in plain English, before any software.

  1. 01 Explainer What is a Gantt chart? What a Gantt chart shows, how to read it, and when to use one.
  2. 02 Explainer The critical path method How to find the longest chain of dependent tasks and assess its effect on the finish date.
  3. 03 Explainer What is a work breakdown structure? How to split a big job into pieces small enough to plan — and exactly where to stop splitting.
02 Department

Planning, start to finish

Define the work, estimate durations, and build a schedule.

  1. 04 Field guide How to plan a project Five steps from defining the deliverable to drawing and maintaining a project schedule.
  2. 05 Field guide How to make a project timeline Build a timeline from milestones and phases, then decide whether you need a Gantt chart.
  3. 06 Field guide How to estimate a project Estimate task durations as ranges and allow a visible buffer for delays.
03 Department

Drawing the chart

Instructions for generating a chart or building one in an app you already use.

  1. 07 The head guide How to make a Gantt chart Compare four ways to create a Gantt chart and learn the planning steps behind them.
  2. 08 Tutorial In Microsoft Excel The stacked-bar trick and the conditional-formatting grid, with the exact formulas to copy.
  3. 09 Tutorial In Google Sheets Three routes — stacked bars, the SPARKLINE formula, and timeline view — step by step.
  4. 10 Tutorial In PowerPoint Build a Gantt chart on a slide with stacked bars or shapes over a table.
  5. 11 Tutorial In Microsoft Word Two document-native ways — a table with the cells shaded in, and the stacked-bar trick — with the exact clicks.
  6. 12 Tutorial In Google Docs Create a shaded table or insert a chart linked from Google Sheets.
  7. 13 Tutorial In Notion Set up a task database, add Timeline view, and configure dependencies.
  8. 14 Tutorial In Jira Schedule epics in Timeline view and see how Jira handles date conflicts.
  9. 15 Tutorial In Microsoft Project Enter task durations and dependencies, use Auto Scheduled mode, and highlight the critical path.
  10. 16 Tutorial With ChatGPT Request Mermaid code or a task table, turn it into a chart, and check the schedule.
  11. 17 Buyer’s guide Do you need Gantt chart software? Compare manual charts with scheduling software and choose the features your project needs.
04 Department

Worked references

Finished plans to read, copy, and bend to your own project.

  1. 18 Reference Gantt chart examples Five example schedules, each with a prompt and notes on the task order.
  2. 19 Reference Gantt chart templates Six free phase lists you can copy in seconds, each with a worked timeline to adapt.

The reference desk

The glossary

Every planning word that carries weight — task, dependency, slack, milestone, critical path — defined in a sentence, in plain English.

Look up a term

From the night shift

The journal

Longer-form notes on making small software — the thinking behind the tools, and the opinions the field guides only hint at.

Read the notes

Or skip the reading

Try making a chart

Describe your project to ganttchart.ai to generate a first schedule, then check the tasks and dates before sharing it.

Try ganttchart.ai ↗ Start with the basics